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Glass
Artists Newsletter - January 2008 |
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You
can read our current newsletter here
on-line each month, free of charge. We
hope you will take the opportunity to let
your stained glass artist friends know
about the newsletter and if you have
students, encourage them to read it.
If
you'd like a reminder when a new issue is
published simply send us your e-mail
address.
In
the meantime, we welcome your input and
support. Let us know if you have tips and
techniques or product information you'd
like to share. |
Whew-the
wild holidays are over! Hope yours were great.
We had a
successful show at the Covey Center For The
Arts In Provo. The opening night was
attended by hundreds of people, almost
more than I'm comfortable with! It was a
great night! Then people kept visiting the
exhibit throughout the month. It was a
great opportunity to display some of our
best pieces.
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Jeanne and
I really enjoyed talking to the hundreds
of visitors to the opening night. We even
got to pose for a picture during a brief
lull. The stained glass hanging from the
ceiling, just seemed to float..magic!
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Randy and
Lynde Mott were on hand to answer
questions about Lynde's work. Her
paintings are very impressive alone, but
when gathered together, they take on even
more brilliance. |
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| Last
month we showed a repair, this month
we thought you'd be interested in a new
technique we're playing with.
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The
Painted Leaf Project
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When we worked on a recent project of four transom
windows for Kent Walker, one of our favorite architects, we wondered if
we could paint leaves on some of the big panels. This would allow us to
skip some of the lead lines, allowing the design to be more open and
natural.
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If you want to follow this technique yourself,
start by cleaning the glass well, drying it, and applying contact paper
to both sides of the glass, then use spray adhesive to glue the paper
pattern in place on the contact paper covered glass.
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Then cut all the lines that will be
needed to sandblast the pattern into the glass with a very sharp knife,
I change my blade daily because they don't seem to keep a sharp enough
edge after a day's use.
Only remove the part of the pattern
that is to be blasted the deepest.
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With the edge of the knife, or any other hard
surface, burnish the edges of the contact paper down tightly to the
glass, removing any bubbles, so that it won't lift up while
sandblasting. |
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Don't forget to burnish down the part that will be
removed later. It's easier to do it before the first blast because the
lines will be blasted away during the first etch pass. |
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Now blast away, aiming the nozzle of the blaster
towards the spilt in the leaf so that you'll achieve a really definite
vein in the middle of the leaf. |
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You can test the edge of the split with the edge of
your knife to make sure the blast is deep enough. |
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Then you can remove the contact paper for the
second blast pass. |
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You can see that finished leaf looks good, but
really blends into the background. |
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Then add a little paint to achieve the color and
contrast that you're looking for. |
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Here is the finished leaf, we did the same blasting
on the back so that both sides would look the same and the painted leaf
wouldn't make a weird shadow on the back of the piece.
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Here is the panel before soldering.
You can easily see the different colored leaves in the glass and the
painted leaves that are falling from the twigs.
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